The blade was stopped and a clang rung out. The wasp-aliens weapon had struck the flat of a shabby looking sword. Jason managed to activate the ARMS and block the strike in the nick of time. A moment later and he would be dead. Even still, the positioning of the swords put him at a disadvantage. While the alien was still shocked by the unexpected resistance, he twisted his wrist as he stepped to get up to his feet. The alien followed the sword as it was turned and pushed to the side. Following through, Jason swung with all his strength in the most ugly of baseball bat swings ever done with a sword straight through the center of the wasp alien.

The wasp alien’s abdomen and legs dropped to the ground. To Jason’s horror, everything above where he cut was alive and seemingly unaffected save for a mucusy liquid dripping out from where its torso had been severed from its abdomen. It turned to face him. It looked down at its legs and then back to Jason. Black marks began to appear on its face. Jason wasn’t aware that insects could change the colors of their carapace. He got an odd feeling from this visual change. It gave him the feeling that the wasp was furious. Humans gave of many queues for every emotion that they had. The wasp only had this one. Of course Jason couldn’t be certain that these new markings meant anything, but something told him that what had come before was nothing compared to what this alien had in store for him.

Jason took up a stance that he had seen in videos, holding the sword messily in front of himself, exposing himself to attack in many places. Before he knew what was going on, the wasp rushed at him. Instinctively Jason blocked the attack made by it and was pushed back a step. It struck at him in rapid succession, each blow forcing Jason back and off balance. He tried to keep up, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the wasp got through. Jason attempted to fight back, but every time he thought he saw a chance to do something other than block the thought was cut short with another incoming attack. The only thing that gave him respite was that with each block the wasp’s blade vibrated in its hands. It was not used to hitting against something so heavy and solid as a human wielding a sword, even badly.

Meanwhile, the other wasps and Eaugr’n were each in a death struggle with each other of their own. The Eugr’n could catch and hold the wasps as if they were brittle little children, but the wasps were two fast for their opponents. With each failed attempt take hold of them the Eaugr’n wound up with a new slash across their arms, back, or chest. A times the wasps had gotten in a cut across the neck of the Eugr’n fighters, but their neck being covered in a thick hair and their neck being thick in and of itself prevented the cut from doing much more than surface cuts. It’s not as though the cuts had no effect however. Each cut caused more blood to flow from their wounds. The more wounds made, the more the Eaugr’n slowed allowing more wounds to be made, and in the end the blood loss quickened with each drop of blood bringing them closer to death.

Eventually the Eaugr’n each caught the wasp they were fighting. In this moment the battle ended. Neither side was the victor. At the moment of being caught, the wasp would plunge their blade and stringer, whichever they could, into the chest and through the heart of their captor. The Eaugr’n ripped the wasp alien they held in two and smashed them on the ground, killing them. This was the last action that they would take, falling over exhausted, and drained of their vital life fluids.

Only Jason and the wasp alien he was fighting were left. The mammoth bug had long since left and was on its way with several T’kata hurriedly back to its pin. The wasp’s strikes were losing no power. Jason, on the other hand, was becoming more and more exhausted. The edge of the wasp’s blade was able to get closer to landing a blow on him. Then it happen. Jason had weakened to the point that a slash cut across his right arm. It wasn’t a death blow. There was still hope. The next blow came knocking him off balance and the sword from his grip. He stumbled and tried to catch the sword before it flew out of reach. The next slash would have beheaded him, but in haste for the sword he stepped in a divot and twisted his ankle. Jason cried out in pain as he fell to the ground and the wasp’s blade passed just barely above him. Then came a stab at Jason’s heart. He rolled towards his blade out of harm’s way.

The wasp repositioned itself to attempted to slash down at Jason once more. Jason reached his sword. He swung it up to block the wasp’s attack. He succeeded, but a searing pain in his arm had his scream out in pain and lose hold of his sword. The blade was launched at the wasp. It dodged it easily and it sailed far beyond any distance he could reach before being laid to waste. It was over. He knew he was dead and there was no more that he could do about it. The wasp hovered over to Jason. To him it seemed to take an eternity. He was exhausted and knowing that he was defeated he didn’t even attempt to flee. There was no point. The wasp raised his sword once more above his head and the brought it down towards Jason’s neck. Jason’s life flashed before his eyes. The wasp’s life flashed before its. Jason’s body remembered his dagger and instinctually brought it to a defensive position to receive the attack. The blades clashed weakly before the wasp’s sword dropped to the ground harmlessly, no other force but gravity guiding it. Jason felt a warm mucousy liquid splatter on his face and came to his senses. He saw the wasp’s wings flutter and lose altitude before crashing into the ground, dead. An arrow was lodged in its head which had entered from the back and had enough for the head to penetrate out between its eyes.

Jason fell back against the ground, exhausted. He didn’t know where the arrow came from, but he was too tired. He was used to doing the work of cutting down trees from dusk till dawn, but fighting wore him out on a whole different level. Every blow blocked and cut made sapped his will to continue on. This, he was not prepared for and so, he passed out, leaving himself exposed to whatever may come. He felt he had done all he could and anything else he wouldn’t be able to stop whether he was awake or not.

Hours later, Jason woke up to the smell of burning flesh. It seemed peculiarly like the smell of the meat for the stew that Su made. His eyes opened and saw the stars. He had slept a the rest of the day away, but he wasn’t dead so that was a plus. Moving made his body ache, but he pushed through the pain and sat up. The first thing he noticed was that wounds he had were bandaged. Whoever did it cut away the clothes around the wound and wrapped in a gauze with some sort of leafy vegetation. It didn’t hurt. In fact, the cuts that he had obtained during the fight were the only parts of his body that weren’t screaming at him. After, he assessed his own physical situation he looked around to see where he was.

Nearby was a large fire that was hard to look directly at. His eyes blurred from the heat and bright light contrasting against the night. He rubbed his eyes and tried to get a clearer view of what was going on. He hadn’t been moved. The logs that they worked hard to cut down earlier that day were used build a funeral pyre and the bodies of fallen Eaugr’n, Sil`phane, and T’kata were in it. The surviving T’kata and Sil`phane that had returned while he was unconscious surrounded the pyre solemnly paying their respects. His movements to get up were heard by the 6 other surviving members of his group. One of the T’kata rushed over to aid him.

“You should not get up yet,” she said.

“I’ll be ok. Just a little sore. I can walk it off,” he said as he groaned. His body was sluggish and putting weight to stand anywhere, from his feet to his legs, and even his arms, caused his burning muscles to complain that much more. The T’kata didn’t attempt to restrain him. Instead she helped him to his feet and supported his weight. “Help me over to the pyre?” he asked her.

The T’kata nodded her head and walked with him to the others, “The Sil`phane and Eaugr’n honor their fallen. It means different things to each of them. We T’kata do not believe in such things, but respecting their ways where it does not cause harm helps social cohesion with them so we do what we can when it is needed,” she explained.

Jason understood how they felt, but it seemed to him that the T’kata were of the type that would go along to get along in most cases as long as they could see the group benefit from doing something. He, on the other hand, acted only in accordance with what he believed. he didn’t go out of his way to offend the beliefs of others, but he certainly wasn’t going to play along when he thought they were wrong. In this case, he didn’t know the customs or the reasons for the customs. It seemed to him that they didn’t have a problem with traditions that overlapped or different ways each of them paid their respects. Jason didn’t believe in any of the religions of Earth, but he still wanted to pay respects to his fallen co-workers? friends? mentors? He wasn’t sure what they were exactly to him. He had only known them a few weeks, but he had grown close to them, believing that he’d be working with them for the foreseeable future.

He remembered a few things he had seen from various places and thought it might be fitting. Having the T’kata help him, he moved closer to the funeral pyre. He reached down to the ground and picked up a handful of dirt. He took another step forward. “Like sand of an hourglass, so are the days of our lives. We are dust in the wind. We are stardust. A way for the universe to know itself. And from dust we came so dust will we return,” he said as through the dirt into the pyre. The mixture of wood chips, ashes, and dirt lit and burned quickly to nothingness as it passed through the fire.

The group around him looked at him and all gave him a nod of thanks and respect. The T’kata that stood with him helped him to a nearby stump to rest on. “This sentiment. It is one I can get behind. You humans are surprising,” she told him.

The others gathered where Jason was sitting a short time later and discussed whether they should try to make their way back to town or wait till morning. It was decided that it would be safer to risk any dangers associated with getting to the town than it was to stay where they were open to further possible attacks. Soon after they started on their way back to town, the same T’kata helping Jason along the way.

“So no pay today I take it?” Jason asked jokingly.

The T’kata looked at Jason as if he had said something stupid. “Why would there be no pay? You did your job. You get paid. You will also be compensated for the logs we used,” she said.

The accompanying Sil`phane laughed at Jason. Not for his question nor the fact that T’kata didn’t get the joke, but rather that Jason hadn’t realized that the T’kata didn’t have much of a sense of humor yet.

When they reached town, they went through the process of each being paid. The amounts were larger than usual due to the compensation for the logs. Jason thought it was too large. He didn’t realize he was also being paid for the fight with the wasps. When he asked on the way home, helped by the same T’kata, she expressed surprise once more, “Why do you keep thinking that your work should go without pay? Humans are strange creatures.”